For the Hopeless

Chapter 5: The Crimson Fang

"I say we just go in," Bailey said in her normal nonchalant tone, as if she weren't suggesting that they walk into a death trap. "There isn't really much we could plan, since we don't know exactly who or what is in there at the moment."

Aven nodded slowly, though she frowned, clearly not too fond of the idea. "Do you want me to...try...?"

Again, Bailey shrugged, so casual that it was beginning to bug Hayden. "If you want to. You can stay out here for all I care. No offense, but I don't expect much from you." She smiled suddenly, cold and hard and just a little bit crazy. "Unless you are a Traitor, after all, simply acting like the helpless elf to lead me into a trap."

Aven went wide-eyed, having had no idea that Bailey was even considering such a thing. "I-I'm not," she stammered, taking a step back, as though she expected Bailey to reach out and strike her right then and there. "I would never..."

Bailey turned from her with another shrug, already done with the topic. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?" And with that, she started for the heavy metal door at the club's entrance, painted black with a pair of ivory fangs dripping blood. She disappeared from Hayden's view, and the girl didn't dare peek around the corner much farther.

But a creak resounded through the silent night, obviously the sound of Bailey opening the rusty old door. Light, dim and reddish, spilled across the pure white of the snow; the beat of a fast-paced techno song shattered the calm of the night outside. Aven hesitated, but soon went after Bailey, catching the door just before it slammed shut. She disappeared into the club after Bailey, and Hayden ghosted out of the safety of her alley.

"Should I wait?" she murmured to herself, standing before the entrance. She stared at the door's decal, those ugly, bloody fangs, and sneered. "Well, I guess I have to kick someone's ass for this cliché crap." She tugged the door open and slipped into the club, her entrance hidden by the chaos already occurring within.

There were shouts everywhere, screams of orders and shrieks of pain. Men and women, human and otherwise, were rushing about in a mass of confusion. Many were attempting to fight, but there were others trying to flee. Blood already covered one wall, several corpses slumped against it. Bailey was in the middle of the mess, currently in the process of leaping onto the bar a few feet from the door. Her foot caught a man in the jaw, sending him sprawling across a bar stool just before she landed, perfectly balanced on the other foot. Aven was huddled off to one side of the door, afraid, but drawing no attention to herself.

A second man was coming up behind Bailey, hauling himself onto the bar with two women in his wake. Hayden watched for a moment, pressed back against the door and out of sight for the moment. Did she help Bailey? Or did she just let the woman do her thing? Her wicked aura was already filling the club, heavy, pressing against the scurrying people and pushing against the building's walls as if it wanted to escape, to become its own entity. Judging by the bloodthirsty feel of it, Bailey was fine on her own. Hayden opted to take out the few attempting to escape through the back.

She slipped behind Bailey's crowd, silent even on her ridiculous platforms, and maneuvered around a couple of scuffed, ugly gray tables. She crushed the remnants of a broken cup at one point, but even that seemed silent, hidden beneath the sounds of Bailey's altercations. She followed a pair of what she guessed were human women through a door marked "Employees Only" and found herself in a mass of squawking, chattering, screaming men and women. The majority were humans, though Hayden noticed a pair of horns and a few sets of fangs. The Traitors were probably the only ones willing to face Bailey. Had Hayden made a mistake in leaving her to fend for herself? She recalled that Aven was near the entrance, close enough to help if Bailey needed it, but that barely comforted her. She'd heard Bailey and Dameon's conversation, after all. Aven could have been on the Traitors' side for all they knew.